The season ended on a bad note for Liverpool, with a heartbreaking final defeat to Sevilla in the Europa League. Liverpool also finished 8th in the Premier League, which is very low considering Liverpool’s past success. This shows that Liverpool need improvement in a lot of areas. The major areas in which Liverpool need an improvement are mentioned below.
1.) Fitness of players
Liverpool faced many injury problems throughout the season. Jurgen Klopp’s style of play is prominently based around high pressing which requires extreme fitness and stamina levels of the players. Gegenpressing has been a success, but at the cost of some players. Players like Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana and Milner have quickly adapted to the new style, but on the other hand, players like Jordan Henderson and Sturridge haven’t been able to cope very well with Klopp’s tactics and faced injury problems. Jurgen Klopp should decide on a proper fitness regime so that Liverpool’s latest signings do not face any issues coping up with the style of play.
2.) Defense
Liverpool had defensive problems throughout the season, especially at the left-back position. Alberto Moreno had an awful season and he clearly showed in the Europa League final that he needs to work more in order to stay in the first team. Liverpool need to bring in a new left-back as quickly as possible. The Reds have been linked with German left-back Jonas Hector. The 25-year-old has made 12 appearances for Germany’s national team and his performances have been great in the Bundesliga. He could be the perfect replacement for Moreno. In central defense, new signing Joel Matip will make it to the first eleven in place of Sakho and is a strong backup for Lovren and Matip. Dejan Lovren has shown his talent and composure in central defense since Jurgen Klopp took over and is expected to develop a good partnership with Matip. Nathaniel Clyne has been pretty impressive at right-back, meaning Liverpool do not need any changes in that region.
3.) Striker
Jurgen Klopp is expected to lead Liverpool to the Premier League title and to become credible title challengers and for that, Liverpool needs a 20-goal-a-season striker. Daniel Sturridge is a very potent striker but his injuries have hampered him from regular first team football at Liverpool. He can score more than 20 goals in a season, but for that he needs to be fit for the complete season, but his history suggests the opposite. Sturridge’s future at Liverpool is uncertain and so Liverpool need to sign a deadly striker. The club needs to sign a striker who is hungry for goals. If Klopp can bring in such a striker (Higuain is an example) and with the likes of Coutinho and Firmino creating goal scoring opportunities, Liverpool will become title challenger.
Klopp needs to make certain changes in the personnel too and once he has his own team, Liverpool will give the top clubs a tough competition for the title.